Rick Suchow: Bass

the murder of jaco pastorius...

"In Wilton Manor, Fla., a tiny town near Fort Lauderdale, detectives describe the death of the former bass player for the jazz group Weather Report as a homicide."
- newspaper report

I believe there is a perception by most people, at least those who only casually know of Jaco, that he died of drug or alcohol related causes. The fact is, Jaco was murdered by Luc Havan. Read Tracy Pastorius' comments regarding Jaco's death below the obituary.

(News of Jaco Pastorius death: September 21, 1987:)

(Here are Tracy's comments, which she posted a while back on the jacopastorius.com forum:)
"Jaco was beaten to death by a bouncer at an all-night bottle club. The club was owned by the bouncer's family. Jaco was drunk and wanted to get in, but wasn't allowed. The bouncer got pissed at him for kicking on the door and chased him and beat his head in. (The bouncer was a black belt whose family came from Viet Nam.) Jaco did not put up a fight - he was running away. He was in a coma for a while, then had a stroke and was pronounced brain dead. Since he was not married, his poor parents had to make the decision to turn off the life support. It was a horrible evening. On the death certificate it says "homicide". However, the Broward County D.A. chose to plea bargain it down to manslaughter. Luc Haven (the bouncer) spent only 4 months in jail. As Ingrid (Jaco's 2nd wife) put it, Luc Haven spent one month in jail for each of the children Jaco left behind. I hate it when people assume Jaco died of drugs or alcohol. He was murdered! And I believe from the bottom of my heart that he would have someday gotten treatment for his bipolar disorder and been himself again. Unfortunately, that chance was taken away from him." - Tracy Pastorius